Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Bucks defense looks clueless

When I was in college I worked electrical construction during the summers. On one particular job I was installing those plastic face plates you see on electrical outlets (they gave me all the challenging work!).

Anyway, they're pretty easy to put on... there's one screw in the middle. But no one told me the "professional" way to install them was to make sure the screws all had their grooves perfectly straight north-south. I just tightened the screws and left the grooves whereever the hell they ended up. So when I finished each room (this was a retirement home or something we were working on), it looked a little shitty.

Well, about a half hour into the job the foreman comes around inspecting my work. In the first room I heard him guffawing. His grumbling got louder and louder as he went from room to room. Finally he ripped one of the plates off and smashed it on the concrete.

"Hey college boy! Half your grooves are left, half are right, half are fuckin I-don't-know-what (note: he was a foreman -- not a mathematician) ... what the fuck, you ain't even got a system!!"

Bucks defense needs a system

That's what I feel like when I'm watching the Bucks defense. They allow penetration at will, but at the same time they don't really challenge any jump shooters. They don't take anything away. What the fuck, they ain't even got a system.

What I would do if I were the coach is this. I would say to them, "I don't want anyone to let their cover get past them on penetration... I don't care if you have to play right on the block/charge arc... no one gets to the basket unfettered."

If the Bucks would at least do that... if they would at least pick one thing they want to take away at all cost... they wouldn't be so disjointed. At the moment they are giving up both layups and uncontested 3 pointers. They have to take one away. I would start with the higher percentage shot, the layup. Then build from there.

Come on Bucks. All I'm asking is that you at least get a system. This is sickening.

They may be in the thick of things, but that doesn't change the fact that they play defense like a bunch of high schoolers. If they are "in the thick of things" it's because the East is god awful, not because they are competent.